The present invention relates to cargo handling devices for use in overland vehicles such as passenger vans, minivans, and other similarly designed vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cargo handling device that has a vertical lift and that is operable to load and unload relatively tall cargo and raise and lower that cargo.
There are numerous cargo handling devices used to load or unload cargo from various overland vehicles such as automobiles, vans, and the like. Mounting these prior-art cargo handling devices normally requires significant modification of the vehicle. Typically, the overland vehicles are less useful when modified and, sometimes, aesthetically unappealing. Often, the prior-art cargo handling assemblies have been considered rather cumbersome, and frequently unduly complex.
Many prior-art devices fail to orient the cargo in an appropriate position for ease of handling. Often devices used in connection with automobiles and vans fail to position the cargo at an appropriate height for loading and unloading. This problem is particularly acute when loading and unloading must be carried out at loading docks. Typically, loading docks are designed for use with large trucks having cargo areas which are three, four, or even more feet above ground level. As most other vehicles have cargo areas which are significantly lower, cargo must be lowered from or lifted to the dock in addition to it being loaded or unloaded from the vehicle. Thus in many situations, loading and unloading cargo to and from the cargo area of the vehicle is only one half of the handling task.
In addition, known cargo handling devices have not been designed to optimize the available cargo space in overland vehicles. Thus, transporting relatively tall items in vehicles having cargo areas of limited height has been impossible. As can be appreciated, if a device permitted tall cargo to be loaded into relatively inexpensive vehicles such as station wagons, cargo carriers could avoid using bigger, more expensive vehicle to transport such cargo.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a device which facilitated the loading and unloading of cargo from a vehicle having a relatively low cargo area at relatively high loading docks. In addition, it would be even more desirable if this same device permitted the loading and unloading of relatively tall cargo in a vehicle having a cargo area of limited height.